Ableton Forum

just picked up an old pocket dial (with the fugly blue camo paint job!). loving the endless encoders and feel. is anyone else using this anymore?

has anyone had luck setting it up to work with instant mapping? maybe emulating an oxygen or mackie controller? im hoping to not have to mess with its ancient editor or any python scripts.. thought i would ask here first.

I still have one and use it – but only to mix… in… Logic… So no automatic setup in Live either. But I second that it would be cool to have such a thing.

nobody else?

Hi, can't you just make a note of what CC each dial is sending and then create a custom instant mapping template txt file quickly?

swishniak wrote:just picked up an old pocket dial (with the fugly blue camo paint job!). loving the endless encoders and feel. is anyone else using this anymore?

Mine arrived 2 days ago. Found one in mint condition for a bargain. Also with the fugly blue camo job.
I went through 4 BCR's in like half the lifetime of this pocket dial.

swishniak wrote:has anyone had luck setting it up to work with instant mapping? maybe emulating an oxygen or mackie controller? im hoping to not have to mess with its ancient editor or any python scripts.. thought i would ask here first.

If you can't find a script with matching CC's, there's always the user configuration file option. That is just a textfile in which you enter the CC's.

hoffman2k wrote: If you can't find a script with matching CC's, there's always the user configuration file option. That is just a textfile in which you enter the CC's.

true - damn, that was easy! i think this pocket dial was the best 30 bucks ive spent in a long time.

swishniak wrote:

hoffman2k wrote: If you can't find a script with matching CC's, there's always the user configuration file option. That is just a textfile in which you enter the CC's.

true - damn, that was easy! i think this pocket dial was the best 30 bucks ive spent in a long time.

I can't believe they don't make these anymore. Sure, it would be nice to have it powered over USB. But you can't beat it for the money.

At first I just bought it to see the guts, as I'm doing an arduino project with ST8. But this one is a keeper. Hell, I might get a second. 30$? And I thought I got lucky

hoffman2k wrote: I can't believe they don't make these anymore. Sure, it would be nice to have it powered over USB. But you can't beat it for the money.

At first I just bought it to see the guts, as I'm doing an arduino project with ST8. But this one is a keeper. Hell, I might get a second. 30$? And I thought I got lucky

well, 30 euros, but yeah - a steal. now i want another one. . and a pocket fader. thanks for the suggestion of the user configuration file, dont know why i never tried that before..

swishniak wrote:

hoffman2k wrote: If you can't find a script with matching CC's, there's always the user configuration file option. That is just a textfile in which you enter the CC's.

true - damn, that was easy! i think this pocket dial was the best 30 bucks ive spent in a long time.

Hello, can you help me with the setting for this?
I assign the matching CC's in the configuration file. But in instant mapping mode the dials in Ableton jump either to Zero or to "full"..
Seems like my pocket dial only sends the values "0" when I turn to the left and "127" when I turn to the right.
Which presets on the pocket dial do you use?
Any help appreciated!

i think i used 62, but most of them should work. just check the pocket dial manual (and maybe check with a midi monitor to make sure its really sending what it should be).

ok, thanks for the reply,.. trying it now.

Hey guys.
I read the thread but I didn't get how you use the Pocket Dial smoothly in Live. Hopefully you can help me out on this.

My Pocket Dial is connected via my Focusrite firewire interface - one cable, OUT (on the PD), IN (on the Focusrite)

The best I can currently get is this:
Using preset No: 111 (01110110) -the little pins on the back of the PD.
When mapping the Midi-Dials, I need to take care that the the Mode snaps to 'Relative (2's Comp)'. Sometimes it snaps to 'Absolute', in this case I need to change it manually to 'Relative'. It seems to depend a bit how quickly the dial is turned during the map-process.

This works, but frankly it is a bit of a pain in the ass.
I would really love to get this more smooth. Maybe even Automap it to the selected Instrument/Effect with the 'Blue Hand'. This would be amazing.

Apparently there is a way to use a text file, somehow. Could somebody explain how it is done?

Thanks guys.

hey tsetse

check out the folder: user/library/preferences/ableton/8.2(or current version)/user remote scripts

there is a text file which tells you what to do and how to do it. im also no heavy programmer; if i can do it, im sure you can.

one tip; i would try out some other presets (i dont know about "relative control"). and there are a bunch of other threads out there addressing this:

http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=106519

if you still cant get it ill send you my script

Hey,

thanks for your help. I feel I'm getting closer... yeah!

- I got a little midi-monitor program that tells me what comes out of the pocket dial
- I have the txt in the folder and I'm hacking around with the values, but it still doesn't make too much sense what happens in Live.
Live sees the PD-configuration. Basically I just need the correct values in the txt and the right preset, I guess.

The pocket dial basically has 4 banks of 16 dials... this would be 64 cannels, right?
What I wanna do is to automap the first 8 dials to the selected Live-device (some effects or instruments) and be able to map the remaining 56 channels to arbitrary values in the set.
I'm guessing I would need to put 8 Encoders in the [DeviceControls] but this doesn't really work well.

It would be really cool if you could post or send the script and the preset number that works for you... this would help alot.
Thanks.

As a hint you may consider that some presets output relative CC, others output absolute, etc....